Playing a sport in college is hard. Most people not connected to a young athlete or their family will never realize just how difficult it is, to be good enough in high school to get looks from college coaches. Not the top Division I teams, or even the mid-major schools. Those programs are reserved for the elite athletes in not just a town, but an entire region.

The best athletes at any high school will do well to make a team at a small college, hundreds or thousands of miles from home.

Lakeside HS baseball player James Knight and his family know this. They understand it’s not just about his skills as a hitter or playing the field at second base or shortstop. It’s about how hard and efficiently he can work during his senior year, with the goal of making a baseball team as a freshman in college.

“I think I’m ready to play at the next level, because I love the game of baseball, and I’ve learned a lot from a lot of people in my life about it,” said James.

The work starts even before senior year fall semester. It takes relentless self-promotion, to stand out from the crowd of other young athletes.

Historically, this would require several weekends of multi-campus trips, to get in front of coaches and sell yourself as an athlete, student, and all-around person. The evolution of social media and video servers like YouTube and Vimeo has changed that.

An athlete can get in front of dozens of coaches without ever having to embark on a road trip. A well-done film, highlighting their skills and character, can catch the attention of a coach anywhere in the country. But it has to be done right.

The film has to move, have great pacing, phenomenal videography and sound, and deliver a genuine feel for what makes a player special. It has to highlight their personality, and make a coach want to get to know them better. This is how players get invited to campuses and become memorable in the minds of the coaches.

James Knight and his family decided to take this path. With the help of a couple of buddies from his team and one of their coaches, they had enough people to stage a workout, highlighting all that James does well.

On McLeod Media’s end of the production, we had four cameras operated by two photographers to capture every angle of the young man’s playing ability. When all was said and done, the production looked every bit like something you might see on ESPN or the MLB network. It was James Knight, putting forward his best, in the best way we knew how to capture it.

“I see myself at a good college playing baseball for a good coach on a fun team, hopefully a successful team,” said James.

With any luck, McLeod Media will be able to help him get there. James did most of the work, and we were honored to help deliver his story to the coaches who might invite James to spend four of the best years of his life, playing baseball for their program.